From a reliable anonymous contributor:
Among the most interesting parts of Neal’s piece, I thought, was that he noted that Mellody Hobson was on Hynes’ campaign committee. Now, Mellody Hobson is a long story about the deft use of marketing,
publicists, and connections, but suffice it to say that she is the quintessential young, establishment, African-American. Although she worked on Bill Bradley’s campaign, since then, she does not look twice politically unless she knows exactly what the Mayor is doing. She is, also, a long-time friend of Barak Obama’s and has contributed to him in the past, so her throwing in with Hynes shows how cautious she is being in not offending hizzoner.
The great thing about a blog is that it allows for a variety of people to pool knowledge quickly. Not currently living in Chicago, I miss a lot of nuance and this is a perfect case. So for those out there–keep the tips coming they are great. I’ve tried to get some of my friends to accept positions in Springfield, but lessening their salary by more than half to help out their friends hobby just didn’t close the deal.
One question for some of you out there might by what is all this about Hobson marketing herself, just take a look at a google search. The first return is a Crain’s profile that is pretty good.
I agree with the tipster, this bodes poorly for anyone else but Hynes. Obama will still likely do well with the rank and file African-American voters, but the connected young professional African-Americans are likely to be cautious in their support if the Mayor is on Hynes side actively. They are an important element in crossing the divide between races and while Obama himself is very effective from what I’ve seen with white crowds, that isn’t necessarily enough.
Oh, and leftcoastjoshua–Jan isn’t getting back in the race. Goo-Goos (of which I am one) don’t do well against the machine and she is smart enough to see this.